Putting aside all the electoral complications, an unseemly rush to the ballot box without an adequate explanation of Malcolm Turnbull’s plans for economic repair would seriously test the public’s trust.

The statement advised that, following the examination of Shorten’s former union, the inquiry’s counsel believed a number of AWU officials may have had a conflict of interest when “causing the union to enter into lucrative side deals that were not disclosed to the members”.

However, it would be a mistake to see the union royal commission’s waving of the white flag as taking the pressure off Shorten. In fact, it effectively tightens the screws on the Opposition Leader.

Now the TURC dogs have be called off, Shorten is no longer in a position to dismiss the inquiry as simply being Tony Abbott’s very expensive personal vendetta against him and Julia Gillard. With that convenient deflection no longer available (even if true), Shorten has no choice other than to confront the evidence of union thuggery and corruption that has been uncovered.

In short, the Labor leader and his party will face increasing political pressure to deliver on Shorten’s declaration that they have “zero tolerance” for union wrongdoing and corruption.

Calling the “appalling cases” unearthed by TURC “a very sorry tale”, Turnbull pointedly stressed that “anyone who had the interests of the labour movement at heart” should see the royal commission “not as an opportunity for political point scoring but as … a watershed event we should use to clean up the act for the benefit of members”.

In presenting this “test” for the Opposition Leader, the Prime Minister was also gauging the Australian public’s appetite for a political tussle over the need to clean up the unions.

This is partly because Turnbull has a double dissolution trigger at his disposal on the issue – even though he has all but ruled out using it. However, the Government also needs to find a way to counter the union movement’s strong grassroots campaigning capability, which will be rolled out to support Labor at the federal election.

It’s a little known fact beyond those who closely follow politics that the major parties tend to treat the Australian Senate more as a reward for loyal foot soldiers than a forum for talented community representatives.

Shorten’s challenge is to balance this apparent high public esteem for unions with the need to respond to the troubling findings from TURC. And he must do this while managing the often contentious role of unions within the Labor Party itself.

Like any Labor leader, Shorten owes his position at least in part to the factions that put him there; factions that are loosely arranged according to the unions that make up the party’s membership.

With the help of dominant unions, Shorten kept philosophical divisions to a minimum at Labor’s national conference earlier this year. But the price he paid for such peace was to accede to demands that unions maintain their power over key party decisions such as the preselection of Senate candidates.

It’s a little known fact beyond those who closely follow politics that the major parties tend to treat the Australian Senate more as a reward for loyal foot soldiers than a forum for talented community representatives.

Long-serving unionists, in Labor’s case, or senior office holders in the Coalition parties, almost exclusively populate the upper house along with former political staffers and party apparatchiks from either side.

While no political party has an exclusive right to stupidity, Labor’s union-based factions have made Shorten’s life difficult by demonstrating a lack of political smarts when it comes to exercising their power of Senate preselections.

Commenting after the preselection battle smoke cleared, Shorten claimed he supported Gray’s calls for reform of the Labor Party, and that he wanted to give “more voice to rank and file members”.

This ambition unambiguously translates into a reduction of union influence, thereby placing the Opposition Leader in a position where he appears to be acceding to the unions’ demands for their power to be retained (if not increased) while promising the opposite to Labor’s grassroots members.

Shorten should therefore savour any relief he may feel from being “excused” by the union royal commission. His attempts to be all things to all people when it comes to unions will ensure the reprieve is considerably short-lived.